The Value of Branding

Oh look, I'm back :) I know this site of mine deserves so much more attention than it gets but my offline life just gets in the way. This site is one that I really invested a lot of time and effort to in the beginning, after all. I personalized the template (and this was back when Blogger didn't have the easy to do tabs and stuff! and for someone who has no clue what she's doing, it was a big feat!!!) and even worked on personalizing banners and buttons. And let's not forget this is the site that carries my "brand"....yapatoots :)

Branding or personalizing, whether it is a website, a blog, or even a company, is essential. It is through this that your goals, vision/mission and purpose is known, after all. If you were a home based baking business, for example, that specialized on custom food products creating a logo and carrying a slogan that called that out would be very essential. If you branded your products well enough, and had a good visual reference for it, it can help open up many doors for your business.

While word-of-mouth advertising is always a good way to go, it doesn't hurt to have a wide array of advertising options. Nowadays there are so many free options, such as through social networking sites like Facebook. I know of a friend who sells hair bows and accessories for children and what she does is offer promotional items for purchases made via Facebook and according to her, she's gotten a good response.
You can also check out those personalizing websites (such as www.branders.com) that offer promotional products with your site/products names/logos etcetera. They're quite easy to work with and they offer good deals for big or small industries. Nowadays, ordering promotional and personalized giveaways no longer have to be expensive or limited to the big industry! Be it stickers, pens, t-shirts or what not, branding yourself is definitely the way to go. I remember when I started blogging for business, there was this site that did a keychain giveaway with the name of their brand. Hmmm...maybe I should order some "yapatoots" keychains, yes? :)